Guilty Movie Review: Kiara Advani and Akansha Ranjan film will question your conditioning

Guilty Movie Review: Kiara Advani and Akansha Ranjan's film asks many pertinent questions about our years of conditioning. It's an important film that shouldn't be missed.

Kiara Advani and Akansha Ranjan in Guilty.
Kiara Advani and Akansha Ranjan in Guilty.

The people of post #MeToo era are woke, they talk a great deal about women empowerment and flood their social media pages with righteous thoughts on consent. But how will these 'woke' people actually react when a girl in their college gets raped. Will they believe the survivor? Or would they pass crude judgements based on the victim's past behaviour and her clothes?

Karan Johar's Guilty puts its audience on the spot and asks them these pertinent questions. It holds a mirror that despite all the big talk, our 'opinionated' generation doesn't hold a great opinion when it comes to judging a girl.

The film revolves around a college band, comprising of lead singer Vijay VJ Pratap Singh (Gurfateh Singh Pirzada), songwriter Nanki Dutta (Kiara Advani) and a few other members. VJ is the college heartthrob. A well-built guy, who is a politician's son and is dating Nanki, the hottest girl in college.

He is accused of raping his batchmate, Tanu Kumar (Akansha Ranjan Kapoor). A girl from Dhanbad, who is popular because of hostel fights and her loud sense of fashion. She openly states her sexual desires towards VJ, earning the much-used cuss tag of a s*** as her second name.

Eventually, VJ admits to having sex with Tanu on Valentine Day, but he claims it was consensual. "Why would I rape her, I have a girlfriend," he says. His friends support this claim saying, "Sir, woh toh r**** hai. She is that type of a girl. She is taking advantage of #MeToo."

A rape is committed behind closed doors. Only two people - the victim and the accuser - know if it was consensual. So how do outsiders determine the crime? Of course, by questioning the girl's character. Did she make any sexual advances? How many people has she slept with in the past? While Tanu is judged on practically every breath she takes, VJ is given a chance to prove his innocence without facing biases.

In most Bollywood films we have seen rape victims hide their faces. Guilty is a refreshing change in this regard. Tanu doesn't dial down, she doesn't hide her face with a dupatta after the incident. In fact, she jumps back and arrives at the college fest in a shimmery mini dress. A voice comes from the background, "Yeh abhi bhi aise kapade pehte hai." But it's all noise to her.

In all this, a particular dialogue stands out, "You (Tanu and VJ) both have the same personalities but why is only she judged on that?" Makes you question the very core of your conditioning, isn't it?

Guilty is made with all the right intentions and a good heart, which helps overshadow some of its patchy work. The film gets repetitive after an hour, only to pick up the pace by the end. The biggest problem with Guilty is that Akansha is given very little screen time. Though the story is about her dealing with the crime, we somehow see more of Nanki and VJ on the screen.

Kiara as Nanki maintains a punk persona throughout the film, inspired from pop stars like Avril Lavigne and Kesha. In some scenes, she does tilt a bit towards overacting but it can be pardoned.

Guilty also tries the suspense game but fails. They couldn't reach the level that Taapsee Pannu's 2016 film, Pink, reached. Pink, which also talked about consent, handled the subject more tastefully. There were also noises that Guilty is similar to American teen drama 13 Reasons Why, but it is not the case.

Barring these few misses, Guilty makes for an important film. Preaching isn't enough, actions are required, and the film echoes that. You will be Guilty if you don't watch it.

Watch Guilty trailer here:

ALSO READ | Kiara Advani: Karan Johar has my best interests at heart. I feel fortunate that I have him as part of my life

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